Hillary Clinton Announces Tim Kaine As Vice Presidential Running Mate

With Kaine by her side, the presumptive democratic nominee hopes to solidify her base in the race to November 8, 2016.

Hillary Clintonnamed Virginia SenatorTim Kaineas her running mate in the 2016 election in a mass text message to her supporters on Friday night.

According to The New York Times, Clinton is expected to formally introduce the senator during a campaign stop in Florida on Saturday.

Kaine, 58, hails from Kansas City and is a former governor of Virginia who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The senator began his career as a fair housing and civil issues lawyer, rising through the ranks of city and federal government to become governor of Virginia in 2006.

While many thought Clinton would announce her decision at an evening rally in Tampa earlier in the day, she opted to use the digital sphere, announcing her decision. In her speech at the evening rally, Clinton slammed GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, calling his Thursday night RNC speech, “dark and divisive.”

“The last thing we need are leaders who try to divide us even more than we are,Clinton said. “Our differences which make up our diversity, makes the United States the strongest, best positioned country in the world for the 21st century.”

In a lengthy Instagram post, Clinton called Kaine a “lifelong fighter of progressive causes,” and a man with integrity who has never “taken a job for the glory or the title.”

Kaine will help Clinton appeal to independent voters and moderate progressives, but may turn liberal Democrats away, since Kaine supports free trade agreements, the Times reports.

With Kaine by her side, the presumptive democratic nominee hopes to solidify her base in the race to November 8, 2016.